Social Media Week, Peace One Day Join Forces to Support Global Truce 2012

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Social Media Week, which will begin on September 19th and was launched in 2009 to identify emerging trends and advance understanding of social media's impact on society, today announced its partnership with the organization Peace One Day to help promote the Global Truce 2012, a worldwide day of peace and non-violence slated for September 21, 2012.

Through a mix of events and social promotion via the Meetup Everywhere, Facebook and Twitter platforms, the partnership will utilize Social Media Week to raise awareness this September of 2012's mission for a Global Truce. Ultimately, organizers hope efforts will result in the greatest single-day reduction in global violence in recorded history, both domestically and internationally.

Peace One Day, founded by filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, led the initiative that resulted in the unanimous adoption by UN member states of the first annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day.

With the day in place Peace One Day works to institutionalise Peace Day around the world, making it self sustaining. To help make this a reality, Peace One Day and Social Media Week will use social platforms like Meetup, Twitter, and Facebook to organize people around the world. Gilley will also speak on the opening day of Social Media Week in Glasgow on September 19th before Peace One Day hosts a major concert at the O2 arena in London on Peace Day 21 September.

Chief among these efforts includes a campaign through the Meetup.com platform (www.meetup.com/Peace-One-Day/) to reach out to those who want to make a difference and encourage them to self-organize events around peace and connect with a community of like-minded people.

"Social Media Week is thrilled to support Peace One Day," said Toby Daniels, Social Media Week Founder and Executive Director. "Our global events are the perfect platform to build upon the power of social media to propel social impact and affect change for global peace, and Peace One Day is the perfect partner for this. We think this is something that our attendees can get fully behind."

Founder of Peace One Day Jeremy Gilley said, "For the first time in our history we have the technology to reach a global audience and mobilize a generation in the furtherance of a more peaceful and sustainable world. It's incredibly exciting that such an important Social Media initiative such as Social Media Week is getting behind Peace One Day and the Global Truce 2012 campaign. I'm incredibly grateful to Toby and all the SMW team for their support".

In support of the organization's work, Social Media Week partner Nokia has created a free Peace One Day app for all Nokia Symbian smart phone users. The app allows users to add Peace Day to their digital calendar and invite contacts and friends to participate. The app aggregates all of Peace One Day's social media feeds, including Facebook and Twitter, so that users can stay up-to-date on the organization's work. Finally, the app links users to Meetup.com so they can create their own Peace Day gathering or join an existing group.

"Our role in supporting the Social Media Week and Peace One Day partnership fits with our tagline of 'Connecting People,'" said Craig Hepburn, Global Director Digital & Social Media at Nokia. "We're thrilled to help Peace One Day and Social Media Week in their efforts to engage people around the world to support Global Truce 2012, and we're confident that online activity will translate into off-line change."

Since its first year in New York City, Social Media Week has expanded rapidly to more than 20 cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Beirut, Berlin, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Glasgow, Milan, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, and Saw Paulo this September and Paris, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Rome, San Francisco, and Toronto this past February. The last Social Media Week drew over 30,000 registered participants, with 80,000 more following the events via live stream, and a total of 300,000 engaging online.

Host cities were chosen after an extensive vetting process and based on multiple factors, including size, population, broadband and smart phone usage, level of social media engagement and influence, and local knowledge and practical understanding of emerging media and technology.  

Registration for Social Media Week began on Tuesday, September 6th. To register online, click HERE, and for the latest news and updates, as well as more information about events scheduled in specific host cities, visit socialmediaweek.org, or follow SMW on Twitter (@socialmediaweek) or Facebook (facebook.com/socialmediaweek). To find out more about Peace One Day visit www.peaceoneday.org.

SOURCE Crowdcentric Media LLC